VieMed CEO Casey Hoyt has described an enormous opportunity for the company (Nasdaq: VMD) to both support currently underserved patients and grow its business.
Hoyt’s remarks came during a March 11 fourth-quarter 2024 earnings call, in which VieMed COO Todd Zehnder said the company “set a couple of records for revenue this quarter and full-year 2024.”
Supporting a large population needing complex respiratory care
Hoyt set the stage for his 2025 remarks by explaining the reasons behind Lafayette, Louisiana-based VieMed’s optimistic business outlook.
“To provide some context on what we often refer to as a blue ocean of opportunity for business growth, there is a massively underserved patient population that needs to be treated for complex respiratory care,” Hoyt said.
For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for example, “There are an estimated 25 million patients struggling in the U.S. with this disease,” Hoyt said. “Nearly 2.5 million people are already at the last stage of the disease, and 1.25 million have already reached chronic respiratory failure requiring the life-changing ventilation therapy we provide.”
But the industry’s market penetration “is only in the high single digits at this point with only a handful of national players like us working hard to address these complex respiratory needs,” Hoyt said.
The CEO added, “An estimated 80 million individuals are suffering from sleep apnea and remain undiagnosed. With increased awareness and engagement happening due to the widening adoption of GLP-1 drugs, the industry is seeing a more positive correlation to patients beginning PAP therapy. Downstream, this, of course, leads to higher resupply rates and a longer-term treatment period for these patients.”
The CEO said opportunities for patient care extend to mental health, as well.
“I don’t think I have to push too hard to convince anyone on this call of the growing behavioral health crisis we’re facing in this country,” Hoyt said. “Rates of clinical anxiety and depression are at an all-time high. In our business, over half of the patients who are in complex respiratory care struggle with symptoms of anxiety and depression. In many cases, they are being readmitted to the hospitals for respiratory issues, but due to behavioral health challenges.
“In response, we’ve set up a behavioral health offering, providing licensed clinical social workers that go out into the field or can get on a telehealth visit to work in tandem with our respiratory therapists, controlling costs and improving outcomes.”
Meeting rapidly evolving patient needs
VieMed, its CEO said, is expanding its services to meet rapidly evolving patient needs, as well as to keep pace with health care’s own evolution.
“We are also seeing the behavioral health opportunity blossom inside of our staffing division, as we have sourced a significant amount of personnel to fulfill mental health needs by state agencies around the country,” Hoyt said.
“In addition to these multiple sustainable demand drivers, I would layer on the ever-increasing trend of providing more clinical care in the home. With our high-touch, technology-enabled clinical approach, our respiratory therapists have earned a trusted place in the home. Patients want to be treated in the comfort and safety of their home or place of residence. Hospitals and health systems want to better manage their length of stay, and payers recognize the overall total cost of care is lower in the home versus an institutional setting.”
VieMed, Hoyt said, has “become such a vital link between patients, providers and payers in this setting for increasing patient satisfaction, improving compliance and reducing hospitalizations, we are considered more of an in-home clinical provider than an HME [home medical equipment] provider. That’s a significant, purposeful change we have been seeking, reflecting our commitment to delivering comprehensive patient-centered care.”
The ability to adapt and respond to changing health-care needs is imperative, Hoyt said, given the funding “pressure” Medicare and Medicaid programs are under. “We can better manage length of stay for the hospitals through helping them create efficiencies, improve outcomes and increase patient satisfaction,” Hoyt said. “Hospitals are under financial strain and increasing demands to optimize due to rate and financial performance pressures. We’re here to help them succeed by offering our resources and services to help patients appropriately transition to the home.
“We don’t yet know the impact the new administration will have in 2025, but … when there’s pressure to create efficiencies in health care, that plays into our capabilities.”
Earnings report: Growth in ventilators, sleep
Hoyt reported VieMed ventilator revenue was up 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024, “while the number of vent patients increased by over 400 for three quarters in a row in 2024. We’re seeing greater penetration of that massively underserved market as a direct result of the operational overhaul we completed earlier in the year.”
VieMed finished the year with a 43% increase in sleep therapy patients versus 2023. “We are seeing that sequential growth in CPAP units, resupply orders and home sleep tests as well,” Hoyt said. “As strong as our organic growth engine is, we are looking at additional opportunities that will expand our products, services and our reach to diversified patient types.”
COO Zehnder said VieMed’s 2024 Q4 revenue was up 20% compared to the same quarter in 2023. Overall, VieMed’s revenue was up 23% for 2024 compared to revenue in 2023.
“During 2024, acquired revenue accounted for only $1.1 million in Q4 and $3.2 million for the year,” Zehnder said. “On a sequential basis, our revenue grew 4.6%. As Casey just noted, we had a very strong year with our core vent business; it accounted for 55% of revenue for this quarter and 56% for the year.”
Zehnder added that VieMed’s sleep business “increased to 17% of revenues for Q4 and 16% for the year. Our oxygen and staffing businesses continue to grow as well, each contributing roughly 10% of both this quarter’s revenue and for the full year.”
And for 2025 in full, “We are projecting net revenue to be in the range of $254 million to $265 million, which would imply 16% growth over 2024 at the midpoint,” Zehnder said. “Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be in a range of $54 million to $58 million, which would imply 10% growth over 2024.”
